AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
Parties, observers and accessions
The Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA 2012) has parties (covering WTO members, counting the European Union and its 27 member states as one party). Another WTO members/observers and several international organizations participate in the Committee on Government Procurement as observers. of these members with observer status are in the process of acceding to the Agreement.
Parties
Most parties have been bound by the GPA 2012 since its entry into force. Some ratified/acceded to the Agreement at a later date, as shown below. The table also shows the date of entry into force of the GPA 1994 and the GPA 2012 for each party.
Parties |
Date of entry into force/accession |
|
GPA 1994 |
GPA 2012 |
|
Armenia |
15 September 2011 |
6 June 2015 |
Australia |
5 May 2019 |
5 May 2019 |
Canada |
1 January 1996 |
6 April 2014 |
European Union |
1 January 1996 |
6 April 2014 |
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden |
1 January 1996 |
|
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia |
1 May 2004 |
|
Bulgaria and Romania |
1 January 2007 |
|
Croatia |
1 July 2013 |
|
Hong Kong, China |
19 June 1997 |
6 April 2014 |
Iceland |
28 April 2001 |
6 April 2014 |
Israel |
1 January 1996 |
6 April 2014 |
Japan |
1 January 1996 |
16 April 2014 |
Korea, Republic of |
1 January 1997 |
14 January 2016 |
Liechtenstein |
18 September 1997 |
6 April 2014 |
Moldova, Republic of |
14 July 2016 |
14 July 2016 |
Montenegro |
15 July 2015 |
15 July 2015 |
Netherlands with respect to Aruba |
25 October 1996 |
21 August 2014 |
New Zealand |
12 August 2015 |
12 August 2015 |
Norway |
1 January 1996 |
6 April 2014 |
Singapore |
20 October 1997 |
6 April 2014 |
Switzerland |
1 January 1996 |
1 January 2021 |
Chinese Taipei |
15 July 2009 |
6 April 2014 |
Ukraine |
18 May 2016 |
18 May 2016 |
United Kingdom |
1 January 1996 (as a then-member state of the European Union) |
1 January 2021 |
United States |
1 January 1996 |
6 April 2014 |
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Observers
Any WTO member may participate in the Government Procurement Committee as an observer by submitting a written notice to the Committee. Any WTO observer may submit a written request, and may be accorded observer status by the Committee.
WTO members/observers with observer status | Effective date |
Afghanistan |
18 October 2017 |
Albania* |
2 October 2001 |
Argentina |
24 February 1997 |
Bahrain |
9 December 2008 |
Belarus |
27 June 2018 |
Brazil* |
18 October 2017 |
Cameroon |
3 May 2001 |
Chile |
29 September 1997 |
China * |
21 February 2002 |
Colombia |
27 February 1996 |
Costa Rica |
3 June 2015 |
Côte d’Ivoire |
10 July 2020 |
Dominican Republic |
20 September 2022 |
Ecuador |
26 June 2019 |
Georgia * |
5 October 1999 |
India |
10 February 2010 |
Indonesia |
31 October 2012 |
Jordan * |
8 March 2000 |
Kazakhstan* |
19 October 2016 |
Kyrgyz Republic * |
5 October 1999 |
Malaysia |
18 July 2012 |
Mongolia |
23 February 1999 |
North Macedonia* |
27 June 2013 |
Oman * |
3 May 2001 |
Pakistan |
11 February 2015 |
Panama |
29 September 1997 |
Paraguay |
27 February 2019 |
Philippines |
26 June 2019 |
Russian Federation * |
29 May 2013 |
Saudi Arabia |
13 December 2007 |
Seychelles |
16 September 2015 |
Sri Lanka |
23 April 2003 |
Tajikistan* |
25 June 2014 |
Thailand |
3 June 2015 |
Türkiye |
4 June 1996 |
Viet Nam |
5 December 2012 |
* Negotiating accession. |
International intergovernmental organizations granted observer status in the Committee on Government Procurement
- International Monetary Fund
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- International Trade Centre
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
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Accession to the GPA
All WTO members are eligible to accede to the GPA 2012. At present, WTO members are in the process of acceding . Four other WTO members have undertaken commitments, in their WTO accession protocols, to initiate accession to the GPA 2012.
Pending GPA accession negotiations
Member | Application for GPA accession |
Albania (currently inactive) |
2 October 2001 |
Brazil |
19 May 2020 |
China |
14 January 2008 |
Georgia (currently inactive) |
17 October 2002 |
Jordan (currently inactive) |
19 July 2000 |
Kazakhstan |
2 December 2019 |
Kyrgyz Republic |
19 May 1999 |
North Macedonia |
17 March 2017 |
Oman (currently inactive) |
3 May 2001 |
The Russian Federation |
22 August 2016 |
Tajikistan |
12 February 2015 |
GPA accession commitments of WTO members that have not yet applied for accession to the GPA 2012
Member |
GPA Accession Commitments |
Afghanistan |
Date of WTO accession: 29 July 2016 WT/ACC/AFG/36, para. 199: |
Mongolia |
Date of WTO accession: 29 January 1997 WT/ACC/MNG/9, para. 59. |
Saudi Arabia |
Date of WTO accession: 11 December 2005 WT/ACC/SAU/61, para. 231. |
Seychelles |
Date of WTO accession: 26 April 2015 WT/ACC/SYC/64, para. 322. |
The accession process starts with the submission of an application for accession and has two main aspects. First, it involves negotiations between the acceding member and parties of the GPA on the former's GPA coverage (market access commitments). The coverage negotiations determine the procuring entities and goods and services sectors of the acceding member's public procurement market that the acceding member wishes to open to international competition. Second, the accession process serves to ensure that the acceding member's procurement legislation is consistent with the GPA's requirements — for example, regarding transparency, procedural fairness for suppliers and domestic review.
An acceding member's GPA coverage offer identifies its proposed coverage with respect to four areas:
- its procuring entities to be covered under the Agreement
- the goods, services and construction services to be covered under the Agreement
- its threshold values above which procurement activities are to be covered by the Agreement
- exceptions to the proposed coverage.
The disciplines of the GPA 2012 only apply to the entities, goods and services sectors and contract values (above certain financial thresholds) specified in a GPA party's appendix to the GPA 2012. Typically, the parties to the GPA 2012 cover most entities at the central government level as well as entities at the sub-central government level and other entities, such as state-owned enterprises.
The GPA 2012 also provides important flexibilities for developing country parties to manage their transition to a more internationally competitive government procurement regime. Pursuant to Article V of the GPA 2012, special and differential treatment for developing countries in the form of transitional measures such as offsets, price preference programmes, initially higher thresholds and phasing-in of entities, can be negotiated by a developing acceding country in the accession process, subject to the agreement of the other parties and the acceding member's development needs.
Once the terms of accession have been agreed between the GPA parties and the acceding WTO member, the Committee adopts a decision inviting the member to accede to the Agreement. The decision specifies the agreed terms and provides a timeframe for the acceding member to deposit its instrument of accession with the WTO Director-General (typically three to six months).
For a comprehensive compilation of documents relating to accessions, please refer to the Note by the Secretariat entitled “Systematic Compilation of Documents Concerning Individual GPA Accession Processes”, which is updated periodically to reflect the latest documents (GPA/S/1).
The WTO Secretariat provides technical assistance to assist developing country WTO members interested in learning more about the GPA 2012 and/or acceding to the GPA 2012. Where appropriate and desired by accession candidates, other intergovernmental organizations (e.g. regional development banks) or governance-focused institutes may also provide technical assistance with regard to GPA accession.
Accession to the GPA 2012 provides important benefits for the parties to the GPA, their entities and suppliers. These include:
- potential trade gains based on legally assured access to the covered foreign procurement markets
- ensuring a transparent, competitive and predictable government procurement regime,
- contributing to good governance in this sector
- keeping markets open in times of crisis where the temptation for protectionism rises
- in the context of acceding candidates, the GPA can help to reform the government procurement sector in line with international best practices, and lock in the benefits of such reforms
- improved public, supplier and investor confidence in the government procurement system, potentially stimulating inbound foreign direct investment
- enhanced competition for contracts, leading to improved value for money outcomes
- facilitating a more effective and efficient use of public resources.
The GPA provides a useful tool for optimizing value for money, good governance and trade objectives in the government procurement sector. Participation in the GPA also affords the opportunity to influence the future evolution of the Agreement.
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